Violence in Riots: Rome, Italy

Hot off the heels of our discussion about the role of violence in protest demonstrations, Rome erupted in violence on Saturday as part of the Global Day of Action (October 15). While Occupy Wall Street-like protests spread to cities all over the world, Rome was the one place where police and rioters collided. Most demonstrations in other cities, such as Sydney or Paris, were barely large enough to hold up traffic, but the demonstrations in Rome drew tens of thousands of citizens concerned about rising unemployment and bailout issues in the Eurozone. The protesters in Rome call themselves the "indignant ones," and they came to the demonstration prepared to fight, many of them armed with bottles, rocks, and fireworks. I think this is especially interesting within our frame because while the global movement is protesting many different issues in many different cities, Rome is the only place that got so violent so quickly. This begs the question, is there something cultural going on in Italy that makes their protesters more likely to lash out, or is Rome just struggling to deal with its own oppressive issues?

The whole article can be found here.

- Erin